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The Durango High School boys golf team has a big team and big aspirations for the 2025 season.
Head coach Kirk Rawles had the largest boys golf team in his 17-year tenure last season with about 65 players. This year, heading into Year 18 of leading both the boys and girls golf programs, Rawles has his largest team with 76 players.
With so many players and some top returners, Rawles thinks the Demons can compete at the top of the state in 4A after finishing fourth last season.
“It's exciting,” Rawles said. “Everybody comes back and you can tell who's worked hard and who's ready to rock 'n' roll.”
The Durango boys golf team started practice on Monday. Gone from last year’s roster are 12 seniors, including two of the team’s four state tournament participants in Owen Muraro and Ben Ogden. Rawles estimates about 51 of the team’s 76 players are returners with the new 25 players consisting of freshmen and other high school players who are joining the team for the first time.
It’s important to Rawles to have the program be very user-friendly and inclusive. He wants these kids to have a constructive and productive place to go after school if they’re interested in golf.
The large number of kids also helps the program. If some of the newer kids start loving the game from practicing at Hillcrest Golf Club and competing in JV tournaments, they’ll be back the next year and can replace the production the program lost to graduation.
“We're very fortunate that we're at Hillcrest and they have the practice facilities that they do so we can spread out and allow everybody to come up and participate to get a taste of it and get a feel for it,” Rawles said.
To manage the massive size of the squad, Rawles is breaking the team up into three tiers. The top tier of the team will practice four days a week and will compete in match play to see who plays in the tournaments. Then there’s a group of players who will practice twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays and another group of players who will practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Rawles hopes to take advantage of some of the JV tournaments in Colorado or in New Mexico for those players who practice twice a week. The problem is, he needs another assistant coach to be hired to take those players to those tournaments. Rawles is hoping to fill that position soon because those JV tournaments will keep the entire team motivated since almost everyone will see some tournament action.
Leading the team and its chances for a strong finish at state will be junior Drew Jepson. A Bayfield High School student, Jepson made a huge jump in his sophomore season after a big growth spurt. Jepson won multiple high school tournaments last year and finished ninth at the 4A state championship last year and was Durango’s top golfer.
Expectedly, Jepson golfed a lot this summer, according to Rawles. He’s been playing against some high-level competition in American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) tournaments and has been working on his game a ton at Hillcrest.
The other returning piece from last year’s state team is senior Nolan Pace. He finished 24th at last year’s state tournament. Rawles has complimented Pace for his work ethic; Pace also played a lot of tournament golf in the summer to prepare for the high school season.
“They were up at the range hitting wedges and I said, ‘You guys, this is the next two or three strokes right here,”’ Rawles said. “Ninety-yard wedges, 110-yard wedges, 120-yard wedges, flighting wedges and figuring out how to flight your wedges … I told them that I know they can hit it a mile and a half. Now, what are you going to do with it from there? That will be the next phase. That's going to be the next thing; they learned how to break 80 and then you're shooting 75 and so now, what do you do?”
After Jepson and Pace, the final two spots in the top four are up for grabs. There are many veteran players like seniors Wyatt Lafferty, Alex Elias, Nicolas Lucero and Carter Hansen who could make an impact for the Demons and help them finish better than last year’s fourth place at state.
Rawles also mentioned younger players like junior Hayes Malone, sophomore Zane Compton, junior Brody Lafferty and freshman Parker Lafferty as players who could play in tournaments.
The Demons did an intragroup qualifier on Thursday which showed the team’s depth of talent. Because of the team’s size and depth, Rawles only wanted players who thought they could break 90 for 18 holes. He had 23 players show up and 17 players shot 90 or better (Jepson led the way with a 4-under 67.)
More players will get tournament experience this year because of the new league tournaments. There are six tournaments, designated as league tournaments, where Rawles can take 10 players, instead of the usual five players.
These tournaments will include all other members of the Southwest League (Fruita Monument, Grand Junction, Grand Junction Central, Palisade and Montrose). This change will help more players get tournament scores than before.
Tournament scores are even more important because the postseason has an all-new format.
In the past, teams would make regionals and then the top two teams from each regional qualified for state. Individuals from other schools could make it to state if they were in the top 13 after the golfers from the top two teams.
Now, regionals is gone. Teams will have the chance to compete in 12 tournaments before state. Golfers will have their top five scores from those 12 tournaments will be their scoring average in the state ranking.
The 84 golfers with the highest scoring average will go to state. If a team has three golfers in the top 84, that team can compete as a team at state. Each team can take a maximum of four players. If a team has five players or more in the top 84, the players ranked five and below on that team in the top 84 don’t get to go.
“It's good for us, just given our geography,” Rawles said. “With the girls (last season), it was exhausting. By the time it was the end of the season, we had to drive to Loveland for regionals and then turn around and go back the next week for state … This way we can kind of localize qualifying so we might not burn out as much.”
Rawles also recognized the new postseason format protects the top players. In the past, a top player in the state could have a bad day at regionals, or be sick and they didn’t get to go to state. Now, all the best players will be at state. It will also be cheaper for Durango from a budget standpoint.
The Demons hit the road to play in Fruita on Monday and Montrose on Tuesday. Durango’s schedule isn’t too different from it has been, with multiple trips up to Montrose and a few trips into New Mexico.
Durango fans will get the chance to see a strong Demon team on Aug. 18 as Durango hosts the Durango Hillcrest Open at Hillcrest Golf Club.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
